The site is stunning, as beautiful as the photos if not more so. It was a short drive from Resorts World where we were attending a conference, and we got a discount from booking directly with them. I can fully imagine why people would choose it as a wedding venue.
Unfortunately there were just so many problems which need correcting.
Big ones:
-We booked a deluxe double, at a slightly increased charge. This specifies that you will get a room in the main house. We did not. We were not offered a partial refund or apology for this. The annex is lovely, but it's just not what we paid for.
-At the restaurant, I asked whether we could get the chorizo and prawn pasta without the chorizo. We realise this was different from the menu but was happy to get something else if needed, as I am pescetarian. The dish just sounded delicious! My partner joked that this didn't just mean picking the meat out. The waiter said that was fine, and absolutely could be done. When the food arrived, he placed it down saying "The prawn pasta without the chorizo." Immediately we saw something which looked more like a large piece of chorizo, rather than a tomato. We decided to wait for the waiter to return and double check. That was the right decision, because he returned a few minutes later and said that there was chorizo in. I have never in 13 years of being pescetarian been served red or white meat in a professional setting. I asked for fish and chips instead. He said that we wouldn't pay for the incorrect pasta dish or the fish and chips. We were charged for the fish and chips on the bill.
-We were thirsty in the evening after we returned to our room. Not wanting to travel outside into the main house, we decided to get a drink of water. There was one tap in the bathroom, without a sign saying it wasn't drinking water. There was also a kettle in the room, so we assumed it was drinking water. It tasted really very odd and not right. The next day, I got a tap water at breakfast, and also got a tap water at a restaurant just up the road. Both tasted normal. I can only assume from this that the water in our room was contaminated.
Small things:
-The path from the annex to the main house across the little lawn at the back had a hedge which was overgrown so you had to push through it to get through.
-Our breakfast table had crumbs and jam on the tablecloth as we sat down. They didn't offer us another table or to swap the tablecloth.
-We ordered sourdough and olives and oil. We didn't get sourdough, but other bread. The waiter at the end said, "Did you enjoy your sourdough?" We didn't really know how to respond as he had served us the non-sourdough.
-In the morning we weren't really sure what to do at breakfast (e.g. which elements we were allowed to serve ourselves). The waiter said that he would make us toast. The bread went in the toaster and remained there until cold, at which point another guest, who presumably thought it was help yourself, took the toast. The waiter never brought me toast nor apologised for not bringing it so I self-served in the end.
-There were small dark hairs on our bed when we arrived, one on the top of the bed, and one under the blanket on the sheets.
-There was a lovely selection of shower gel and shampoo in the bathroom, but no soap for washing your hands. We assumed you used the shampoo in the end?
-The waiter in the evening seemed a bit overwhelmed and undertrained. He was lovely, but left the dining room for long periods. At one point, a guest resorted to running after him (literally running) to try to order more drinks.
-Someone who looked like a manager came into the restaurant in the morning during breakfast, and criticised guests within ear range of us eating breakfast, for what seemed like a minor infraction. This felt unprofessional.
-A few guests were leaving ahead of us, and the same (manager?) was asking them how their stay was. One guest commented lightly that they didn't have biscuits in their room as promised with a jokey tone. The hotel staff member responded defensively in a situation which could have been smoothed over or joked about very easily.
I realise I've listed a lot of things, and the second list is really small things you could forgive if there were just one or two of them. Even the top few would be absolutely fine if they were the only problem with the booking. But the combination of everything took what was meant to be a relaxing stay in a 4 star hotel to being less than that. less
Account Manager , General Manager at Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel, responded to this review
Dear Ruth
Thank you for taking the time to review us at Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel. Clearly we did not deliver on our normal high standards and please accept my apologies for this. When we receive feedback that suggest a drop in standards I do use the review for training preposes with the departments to ensure that the mistakes are managed better in the future - this is certainly happening with yours. I would add is that the water throughout the property is all drinkable so we do not use signs to let people know that it is drinkable as this is the norm in the UK, also we as a commercial property have regular inspections on things like water, gas, electrics etc and we have no issues - water does tend to differ in taste from location to location due to the hardness of the water. I would ask that comments suggesting contamination is left to the professionals so that we are not victim of scaremongering based on conjecture. Lastly i do feel that some recompense is needed in this case with regards to the room and food costs - please call me on 0121 748 0030. Kind Regards Lewis Poole